Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I come to the floor to speak to the fiscal year 2022 State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill. Every year as December approaches, we finally roll up our sleeves and get serious about passing the critical appropriations bills that fund our government for the new fiscal year, and this year should be no different. We are, in fact, already a month into fiscal year 2022. Until we complete our work on the Appropriations Committee, Federal Agencies are compelled to run on autopilot--something they can manage for a few weeks, even a few months, but it creates immense problems for Agencies and has grave consequences for every State and county and municipality in this country if it goes on too long. What I am talking about today is the grave risk that we will end up with a continuing resolution. Now, a continuing resolution doesn't sound that scary, but it is appropriations-speak for doing nothing, for a zombie government, for conducting business as if time has stopped and nothing has changed. As the relatively new chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, I am acutely aware that running our government on autopilot undermines the ability of the United States to be a global leader, to defend and advance our national security and foreign interests, and to counter the influence and aggression of our competitors and adversaries.…”